Grandia II

"An excellent game in all respects"

My Thoughts on... Grandia II
Developer: Game Arts - Publisher: Ubi Soft

Grandia II is one of two RPGs that get most of the attention on Dreamcast and for good reason. This game quite simply is a great RPG by most anybody's standards. It has a very good story based on the ever popular "good versus evil" foundation. Despite the fact that the story is based on a very often used theme, the game puts enough twists in it to make it unique. Grandia II is an excellent RPG that anybody who owns a Dreamcast should buy and play.

Graphics
While not the most important part of an RPG it is still important. Nobody wants to play a game that will take up hours and hours of their life if it is an absolute eyesore. Fortunately, anybody playing Grandia II will be pleased with the graphics. The characters and the environments look different than most games you have probably played. Nothing has the bold and bright colors like Skies of Arcadia. Everything has a much more artful appearance. The graphics look a great deal as if the are illustrations as supposed to computer models. It's not something I'm used to, but it is very appealing. The characters are very well designed with no obvious jagged edges. The environments are also very well designed with attractive towns and cities as well as forests, islands, and deserts.

The one slight problem is the relative few enemy models used. Like some RPGs this one too recycles most of the enemies all through the game. In many cases the names aren't even changed. In a way that isn't a bad thing since you know what all the enemies are capable of doing, and you don't have to worry about many strange enemies popping up and you not knowing what they can do to you. On the other hand, the boss enemies are very different from each other. The "parts of Valmar" are all extremely different from each other and from pretty much anything else I've ever seen. However, these too are designed quite well and are good looking in an artistic sense.

A major plus in the graphics department is the really cool magic and special moves , in particular the more powerful ones like Ba-Boom and White Apocalypse. Many of these spells are done in CG cut-scenes that really are spectacular to behold.

All in all Grandia II is a very good looking game all around. - 9/10

Sound
Grandia II has something that Skies of Arcadia doesn't have in the sound department; large amounts of voice acting. There are many parts in this game where the characters talk to each other with real voices in addition to the on-screen text. Not just is there a great deal of voice acting, but it all quite good. The actors (in particular the voices of Millenia, Selene, and Zera) were quite talented and did a very good job putting emotion into the character's voices. It's nice though because not everything is done with voice acting. Only important parts are usually done with voice acting, and not even all of them. However, there is a great deal of it and it is quite good.

Sound effects too are pretty good. The fire raging up when you use Burnflame sounds quite realistic. The electric currents rushing through the enemies as you cast Zap! sound quite convincing. Wherever there is a sound effect, it seems to be done very well.

One thing that Grandia II shares with Skies of Arcadia is a very good soundtrack. The music ranges from semi-rock tunes to very sentimental ballad type tunes. There aren't a great many different tunes, but they are spread out enough so that they don't get boring. Most of the dungeons share a few tracks and there are only a few battle tunes. The songs that Elena sings are very well done and in conjunction with what is happening on-screen, it can be pretty moving.

Great soundtrack and good voice acting makes this game a pleasure to listen to. - 9/10

Gameplay
Navigating through the many dungeons in Grandia II is not very difficult. For the most part there is one way through a dungeon and if you make a wrong turn chances are you will hit a dead end with a bag of gold or some other item. In cases like this just go back to where you made the wrong turn and go the other way. There are few times when I got absolutely lost, and all those times I simply ran around and eventually got to where I was supposed to be. To be honest, I like the simple dungeons because I loose patience if I have to refer to an FAQ every five minutes to find out what path I need to take.

The enemies in Grandia II are visible on the surface like Evolution. They don't pop out of nowhere in random encounters like they do in Skies of Arcadia. This allows you to sometimes get behind the enemies and attack them from behind, or before they sense your presence (indicated by the enemy turning red and charging towards you). If you "get initiative" by getting them by surprise you can usually get all your characters to attack before the enemies have a chance to attack. The opposite is true if the enemy surprises you.

The battle system in Grandia II is rather unique. It is based mostly on a real time system, but it does have some traits of a turn based system as well. Each character has an icon on a meter as do all the enemies involved in the battle. There are pretty much two stages. The first is when you input your command (attack, special attack, magic, ect). The second is when the command is actually executed. The speed at which the icons go across the meter relies on the IP and speed of the character. However, a major part of this game is knowing when to use canceling moves so that when an enemy has inputted its command but before it has actually carried it out, your canceling move will cancel the enemy's move and bump its icon to a point before it inputs its command. This can be accomplished by either using the "Critical" attack, or certain Special attacks. Speed can be effected (for better or worse) by certain magic spells. The system is hard to explain, but there is a very good tutorial in the early stages of the game.

Like any good RPG you pick up experience points as you defeat enemies. However, in addition to that you also pick up magic coins and special coins. These coins allow you to power up your magic spells and your special attacks respectively. This is another vital component to succeeding in Grandia II. Actual attack spells as well as healing spells can be greatly enhanced by powering them up, but most status spells do the same thing regardless of weather you power them up or not. Using your coins wisely is one of the most important things you can do in this game.

Speaking of magic, it would be a good idea to tell you that magic is not learned in the way most RPGs have it learned. Characters by themselves will never learn magic. Magic spells can only be cast if the character has a Mana Egg equipped. There are many Mana Egg and each of them contain many different spells. Some are more geared towards healing and status while others are mostly offensive. Mana Eggs require you to use magic coins to unlock new spells within that particular egg as well as power up those spells. Eggs can be moved around from character to character without loosing any of its properties.

There are also things called Skill Books. These books contain enhancements that, when applied to a character, will effect that person's statistics in some way. Some increase a person's strength, some reduce the amount of magic used to cast a spell, and some raise a character's speed. There are several of these books, and they contain very important enhancements that should most definitely be used.

There are also a great many weapons, armors, items, and accessories that can be found lying on the ground, won in combat, or purchased in stores. It is always a good idea to have the most recent weapons and armor equipped.

Lots of stuff to collect and a very unique and challenging battle system. - 9/10

Story
The game starts out innocently enough. A roaming "odd-jobman" (Geohound) named Ryudo is hired to escort a young Songstress of Granas (the benevolent god) named Elena to a sealing ceremony. The ceremony is supposed to seal up a piece of Valmar (the malevolent god) so it cannot escape and wreck havoc on humanity. The only problem is that Elena gets herself possessed by the "Wings of Valmar" and as such becomes infused with the wings' physical manifestation, Millenia. It is decided that Ryudo should escort Elena to the Pope to get him to exorcise the wings. So they set out.

Through the course of the game you will encounter three more characters, fight several pieces of Valmar, learn the truth of the "Battle of Good and Evil", and watch the personal feelings of the characters grow and change.

This game features a great many things in its story; personal struggles, sacrifice, emotional development, broken ideals, not to mention lust for power and the ever present struggle between doing good and doing evil. This game covers a lot of bases, and does it all extremely well. - 9/10

Replay
Like so many games of this kind once you go through it you won't be anxious to go through it again any time soon. There isn't anything to make you go back and play it again, unless you intend to beat it again. There aren't any hidden stages you may have missed, or bonus characters you want to go back and find. Once you beat Grandia II you will put it back on the shelf for a couple of months or maybe a year or more in order to forget most of it so that it is fresh when you inevitably play it again. RPGs aren't meant to be played everyday, even after you have beaten it. However, if you are like me, you will certainly be pulling this game off the shelf again eventually.

No immediate replay value. However, a must play a year hence. - 7/10

THE VERDICT
Grandia II should be in every Dreamcast owner's library. There is so much to love about this game; weather it's the beautiful graphics, or the fantastic music, or the unique story, most anybody would enjoy this game. Another nice thing in a way is that it isn't exceptionally long. I completed the game for the first time in 34 - 35 hours, and some of that is because the battles can take a while because you can't seem to skip through the magic and special attack cinematics. There is also many places where there is a cut scene and that takes time too. If you like long and involved RPGs, then this one might not tickle your fancy as much as it tickled mine, but in any case this is one that everybody should at least try once.

It's too bad all RPGs can't be as good as this. An excellent game in all respects.

Total Score - 86/100

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/04